HK Interpreter - Louise - Hong Kong Interpreter

傳譯漏一字謀殺犯重審上訴庭斥浪費公帑

2011-12-01T18:31:00.001+08:00

傳譯漏一字謀殺犯重審上訴庭斥浪費公帑

明報 – 2011年11月23日星期三上午9:07

【明報專訊】法庭傳譯員因譯漏一個英文字「serious」，結果令原本因謀殺罪成而判囚終身的22歲青年獲得重審機會。上訴庭昨以傳譯員出錯令青年的定罪不穩妥為由，判青年上訴得直，下令發還高院重審，並指摘事件浪費公帑；粗略估計原審涉及公帑逾50萬元。

現年22歲的被告吳柏麟，原被控於2008年10月5日在天水圍天瑞商場的麥當勞，謀殺25歲運輸工人潘嘉恩，去年4月在高院被裁定謀殺罪成，判囚終身。他不服定罪提出上訴，指在審訊期間，外籍法官賴磐德曾用英文問他，是否得悉今次襲擊是有意圖令事主受到「嚴重傷害」，但法庭傳譯員遺漏了「嚴重（serious）」的字眼。

致被告誤解法官問題

被告當時回答「是」，故令法官誤會了被告承認有意圖造成「嚴重傷害」，但事實上被告只是承認有意令受害人受到「一些傷害」（見圖）。上訴庭認為傳譯員遺漏「serious」一字，造成定罪不穩妥。

有關案件為期約6至7日，其中費用包括陪審員津貼每人每天360元，若以6天計算共1.51萬元，加上雙方大律師及律師代表，以及法庭工作人員等，粗略估計涉及公帑逾50萬元。

相關公帑料逾50萬

審訊時控方案情指出，被告吳柏麟因為「爭女」，與案中潘姓死者結怨，案發日吳召集同黨尋仇，凌晨到天瑞邨麥當勞找潘某。

閉路電視片段顯示，9 人對潘拳打腳踢，吳被指以遮架兩度痛擊潘某頭部。潘留醫3日後不治。除吳被裁定謀殺罪成外，兩名同黨張國豪（18歲）及布嘉誠（23歲）去年亦承認誤殺，分別判囚4年及5年半；其中張更以污點證人身分指證本案被告吳柏麟。另一懷疑是同黨的林兆峰（25 歲），涉嫌參與打鬥，今年1月被控謀殺罪提堂，案件有待審理。

吳的代表律師不反對重審與林的案件一併審理，但反對再發還原審法官審訊，認為該法官對被告不公平，但上訴庭指出，原審法官並無犯錯，故不會作出有關命令。

(source: http://hk.news.yahoo.com/傳譯漏-字-謀殺犯重審-上訴庭斥浪費公帑-211942669.html)

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

My recent updates

2011-11-20T03:51:00.001+08:00

My full-time freelance life started end May this year (yes, I was part-time freelancing for a looong time), and I have been enjoying it a great deal so far, apart from some parts of it which I did worry a bit about my income. But as a whole, I do enjoy the freedom (A LOT!!!). And to be able to meet different people from around the world because of different jobs makes me happy.

But as you can see, I have been so busy that I didn't even have time to update this space, which is sad because I do want to share my different jobs (some interesting, some boring, well, life can't be perfect, right?) with all of you. Anyway, I will try to do it whenever I can, and here is a brief catch-up of what's been happening in my translator/interpreter life:

Wine fair in Shanghai in late May
Translation job for a tech comp. in June
English summer camps in HK and 19 days in UK as a counsellor in July and Aug
Sep was a bit dull, so nth about Sep...
Translation job in Oct for a tech comp. in Beijing for 10 days
Wine fair in HK in Nov

These are the big ones and there were also smaller translation jobs here and there. And among all these, I have also started a website called GingCreative (www.GingCreative.com), it's a crowdfunding website for people who have great ideas but lack of funding to raise money and fulfill their dreams!

Have a look if you have time, and do "Like" our facebook page (if you really do like it :), although it's just in Chinese at the moment, you can still give a "Like" base on the design. :D And comments welcome!

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Why is a universal translator so elusive?

2010-12-09T14:54:00.003+08:00

Lust for translation

By LJ Rich
BBC Click

With a global economy and flights that can take you all over the world in hours, why is it that we still struggle with a language barrier that technology is finding hard to break down?

Turn on a TV in a Tokyo hotel room and you will get, if you do not speak the language, a jumble of incomprehensible symbols.

And from the moment you touch down in Japan, chances are you will be faced with a world that is difficult to decode.

Some of the world's most untranslatable words are Japanese. For instance, the word "naa", used in the Kansai area of Japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone, is placed third in a list of the most difficult words to translate - so what can be done when confronted by information that you are unable to process?

Translators are expensive and while useful in getting out of sticky situations, they are often out of the reach of the regular tourist.

So a gadget that was the perfect translation tool would be ideal. If only it were that simple.
Science fiction has always circumnavigated the problem of language with clever devices which act as universal translators - Doctor Who's Tardis, the Babel fish in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - but in reality it has been a lot trickier.

There is already a clutch of reading aids on the web - most notably, and now in over 50 languages, Google Translate. For access to websites beyond your mother tongue, just enter the web page address and the tool does all the hard work.

The problem is that, so far, it is quite literal with its translations and lacks the nuance of someone who speaks the language. Google itself says "while we are working on the problem, it may be some time before anyone can offer human quality translations".

Another site called dotSUB lets members add their own subtitles or translations to videos - think YouTube meets Wikipedia - and the free version allows people to translate through 400 languages, though there is no formal quality control.

Kanji understand?
Japanese is particularly challenging as there are three different types of writing.

One alphabet is especially for foreign words and if that was not complicated enough there are also over 50,000 symbols - Kanji - which are actually pictures of whole words.

You need about 2,000 of them to get through daily life in Japan.

An iPhone app called WishoTouch lets you enter Kanji by hand then gives you a dictionary definition. But you will need to know the stroke order - although the add-on lets you photograph your mystery Kanji, one character at a time.

So faced with the thought of dinner, and a whole load of symbols in a row, you are going to wish for a quicker and less painful way to help you find out what is on the menu.

One translation tool that deals with written text is called a Quicktionary and it is a character reader. It looks similar to a pen and when swiped across text it will give you a translation. At least, that is the idea.

This device is impressive but only works with two typefaces - a problem shared by most text readers.
And perhaps the most comprehensive gadget on a market is a 126-language cross translator made by Ectaco.

"It all started 20 years ago with the Russian market," says Greg Stetson, product manager of Ectaco.
"In Russia there were a lot of immigrants coming into America and [our product] started off as a Russian electronic dictionary - after that it evolved from electronic dictionaries to more language learning products - and from Russian it had to expand into different languages."

Artificial intelligence
Even soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq have used mobile translation when talking to local people. Voxtec's Phraselator has been the choice of the US military for years but, with a price tag of thousands of dollars, this is unlikely to transfer into success in the mass market.

Even if a machine can eventually translate speech in real time across hundreds of languages, it would still need some artificial intelligence to work out what people are actually implying - as everyone knows, no matter what country we are in, we do not always say what we mean.

"The Japanese prefer to speak in a roundabout way," says linguist Takafumi Shimizu, of Sophia University Tokyo.

"So if a taxi driver said to you it's difficult to get there in 10 minutes, he actually means it's impossible. Likewise when Japanese people want to refuse a request or invitation, they would say I'll think about it but do not expect a preferable answer later because the actual meaning is 'I'm refusing'."

And even if you get the right words, you might get them in the wrong order - luckily if you're speaking to Professor Shimizu, he will probably understand you anyway.

"In English, the basic word order is subject, verb, object," he says.

"In Japanese the best word order is subject, object and then verb. So for example 'I bought tea leaves at Harrods yesterday' would be, in Japanese, 'yesterday Harrods at I tea leaves bought'."

In Star Trek, their universal translation device was not invented until the latter half of the 22nd Century and even then it was not flawless. Let's just hope we do not have to wait that long for something similar in real life.

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

iPhone新程式助即時傳譯

2010-09-01T14:11:00.001+08:00

智能手機iPhone大流行，吸引了不少人為其設計軟件，有程式設計師為它設計了一款雙向即時翻譯軟件，將iPhone變成一位通曉五十一種語言的即時傳譯員，打破人與人之間的語言隔膜

屏幕分成雙向區域

這款名為Converse的iPhone即時翻譯程式，將手機屏幕分割成兩個不同語言區，各區擁有自己的語言鍵盤，兩名操不同語言的人，只須通過該程式便可以即時為語言解結。使用時，其中一方在設有自己語言的鍵盤上輸入字句，系統便會將句子譯成指定文字，顯示在屏幕另一端，對方在靠近自己一方的鍵盤上，用自己的文字回覆，軟件便會代為傳譯。

這個軟件共設有多達五十一種不同語言，包括中文、日文、韓文、泰文及俄文等，連阿拉伯文、烏克蘭文、捷克文及希伯來文等亦有提供翻譯，適合世界各地的iPhone用家。

It costs 1.99$US has anyone tried? It just feels very funny to me, I can't imagine myself playing my iPhone with a stranger in a foreign country. :P

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Pray for the Manila massacre survivors

2010-08-24T13:55:00.000+08:00

The sadness at heart is inexplicable...

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Recent translation jobs

2010-08-19T13:45:00.001+08:00

I have been doing mostly translation jobs lately.

Last month, I did quite a long one, it's a company training manual, the content is not too difficult, because it's straightforward, but it's the turnaround time, I quoted 7 days for about 7000 words. It's not too easy because I had to finish it among other jobs on hand. Anyway, it's finally done and I handed in everything on time. :)

By the way, I just received a reader's email asking me about freelance interpretation jobs and charges for beginners in this industry. I am usually not a good quoter for jobs, but it seems to be quite a difficult for new comers, so I have decided that I will put up a post later regarding these issues to try to solve some of the puzzles new comers/graduates might encounter.

So stay tune! I promise it won't take too long this time. :)

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

精通日韩等8国语言温州姑娘被称中国最牛中学生

2010-07-07T16:17:00.000+08:00

Some people are just talented, but still they need the environment to perfect it.

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精通日韩等8国语言温州姑娘被称中国最牛中学生

2010-06-07 09:03:00　来源: 温州网(温州)　跟贴 0 条手机看新闻浙江在线06月07日讯精通英语、日语、韩语等8种语言，会用100多种语言向国外友人问好。日前，一名17岁的初三女孩从3000多名竞争者参加的全球海选中脱颖而出，成为上海世博唯一乡村馆——浙江奉化滕头村馆形象大使，她被网友称为“中国最牛中学生”，她就是来自温州永嘉的周由希。
今年8月初，她将赴上海世博“上任”，向世界推介滕头村馆。然而鲜为人知的是，周由希的哥哥周游列国也是一“牛”人，曾被媒体称为“神奇小子”。她的父母为了让她学习语言，在近7年内演绎了现代版“孟母三迁”，并曾因特殊的教育方式被央视节目邀请做访谈。

父母演绎现代版“孟母三迁”

温州姑娘周由希，北京顺义区天竺中学的初三学生。
早在2008年，正读初一的周由希便是一名北京奥运“编外志愿者”(因年纪太小没选上)。因精通英语、日语、韩语等8种语言，会用100多种语言向国际友人问好而被媒体称为“语言小神童”。

“‘语言小神童’有点夸张了！”昨天下午，周由希在电话里说，她能够熟练掌握多种语言，和她父母的培养不无关系。特别在最近7年内，她父母为了让她学习语言，上演现代版“孟母三迁”。
周由希说，她1993年9月出生在永嘉县岩头镇周宅村。因爷爷奶奶在宁夏定居，周由希出生不久就被带到宁夏。“小学一年级在宁夏读，小学二年级回到永嘉瓯北一小读，小学三年级在瓯北岭头村小学，五年级又转学到永嘉瓯北三小。”周由希说，2004年之后，她的父母为了让她学习各种语言，开始多次搬家。
“2004年，为了让我学韩语，父母把我带到吉林延边上学。为了让我学蒙语，他们又于2006年把我带到了内蒙古。”周由希说，2007年初，她的父母又搬到北京，让她进入顺义区天竺中学。“学校附近有北京语言大学，在这里可以学习葡萄牙语和法语。”周由希说，加上她自学日语、手语等，在北京奥运前，她已熟练掌握8种语言，还取得了英语国际口译五级(最高级)证书。此外，她还向北京语言大学的各国留学生学习了100多种语言的问候语。
从3000名选手中脱颖而出当上形象大使
对于成为上海世博唯一乡村馆——浙江奉化滕头村馆形象大使，周由希说有点偶然。
周由希告诉记者，今年3月，她父亲从报纸上看了滕头村馆在全球选馆长的消息后，便把报纸给她看了。“我是浙江人，有责任和义务为浙江做点事。”周由希说，当晚她就在网上报了名。

比赛竞争很激烈，来自中国、日本、德国等10多个国家和地区的3000多名选手参加海选。周由希自称很幸运，4月初，她接到通知，她进入十名候选人之列，随后经过网络投票进入了前五，最后进入决赛。
决赛分三场，第一场是如何当馆长个人演讲，第二和第三场分别是专家提问和抽答题。周由希告诉记者，和她同场PK的分别是：一名在国外读硕士的宁波80后，一名是德国籍男子，一名是云南红河县的女副县长，另一名是滕头村村民，年纪都比她大。
“虽然我的年龄很小，但我的经历很丰富，去过很多地方，做过志愿者，如果我有幸成为滕头馆的馆长，我会利用语言优势和能力为世博服务，为滕头村馆服务。”周由希在演讲结束时说。

经过紧张激烈的角逐，周由希以第三名的成绩顺利当选。

哥哥周游列国也是“神奇小子”

周由希在采访中表示，今年年底，她将去哥斯达黎加读高中，学习西班牙语。她说，她的爱好是学习语言、交际和体育，理想是成为希拉里那样的政治家。最崇拜的人是哥哥，她哥哥名叫周游列国。记者了解到，她的哥哥也是一“牛”人，曾被媒体称为“神奇小子”。2006年，周游列国以643的高分顺利通过托福考试，被美国威斯里安大学录取，并获得弗里曼亚洲奖：4年总共20万美金。周由希说，她哥哥今年已在美国读完硕士，正准备攻读博士。
两位神童的父亲周斌，今年55岁，退休工人，也是当地一位相当有名的人物，曾经独创好几种学英语的特殊方式而受到媒体瞩目，并被央视栏目《小崔说事》邀请做特别嘉宾。
据温州商报记者郭进松光

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

VinExpo 2010

2010-06-12T17:24:00.000+08:00

I went to VinExpo to work as an interpreter from 25-27 May, 2010. It's been fun and it's the FIRST time I did interpretation in French, English, Mandarin and Cantonese, to be honest, I was quite nervous since my french level is still not as fluent as I want it to be. Luckily, my bosses were both very nice and patient. You will see them in the photos below. The region I worked for is Rhone which is located in the south of France, the Rhone River.

The booth area I worked for.

I was assigned to two small booths so I had 2 "bosses", this is Dirk, who's a former race car driver, that's why you can see his decoration of the booth is a flag which car racing uses. And he's from Belgium originally, but now resides in France making wines with his family, he's been making wines for about 10 years now. His winery is called LePlan Winery. A very nice and interesting guy, since his mother tongue is Flemish, so I spoke to him in English because French is not his native language anyway, of course he does speak fluent French.

These are the booths in front of ours, and you can see the decoration is quite different.

My other bosses at the next booth, Mdm Poisson, a very nice French lady who speaks very good English as well. And I did most of my interpretation for her in French, unless she really had difficulty understanding me. The monsieur here is the boss of this winery, his name is M.Paly (I hope I got the spelling right), he's often not at the booth, so didn't have much chances to talk to him, and he does have quite a strong accent when he speaks. :P

This is the Sopexa booth.

Overall speaking, it's been a good experience, and in fact, this is the third time I did VinExpo, but the first to do interpretation in French (I do think I need to work a lot harder to improve my French proficiency though,both grammar and vocabulary), it's not very tiring, and had wines to drink every day, what more can you ask for! Haha!

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Opera 變 Odera 穗劇院鬧大笑話

2010-05-12T13:00:00.002+08:00

Opera 變 Odera 穗劇院鬧大笑話
2010年05月12日蘋果日報

本月剛剛啟用、被譽為廣州新地標的廣州大劇院，指示牌英文鬧出大笑話。

該劇院門口指示牌上，英文「 Opera」（歌劇）被寫成「 Odera」，不少廣州網民大批「不可原諒、非常失望」、「沒有文化扮有文化」。也有網民認為「是工人把 p字裝反轉了，變成 d字」。

廣州大劇院耗資 13.8億元人民幣興建，位於廣州珠江新城，與北京國家大劇院、上海大劇院並列為中國三大劇院，此前因多次追加巨資，一度被指為「燒錢形象工程」。

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Interesting experience!!

2010-05-01T19:51:00.004+08:00

I did a finance interpretation a couple days ago, a bank's AGM, and to be honest, I was quite nervous the week before it because I haven't done such a serious finance job before, so I was really preparing hard for it, and read the annual report to get familiar with the terms and numbers and stuff.

And finally the day came, and of course I dressed nicely and arrived early so as to get used to the place. After about 15mins, the shareholders started to arrive, and the staff introduced me to the company secretary, it's a guy. And he told me I just need to interpret during the Q & A session and the AGM, he got the English sorted.

So I was sitting there in the front role, holding the mic while the AGM was in process. And it lasted for about half and hour, everything was very routine, and the shareholders who actually stood up were appointed beforehand to second the proposal by the chairman.

And at the end, the secretary didn't really ask the floor if they had any questions to ask, and I think the Q & A session was actually non-existent. And then the staff came to me and said "it's done, you may go". I was in a bit of a shock, although I didn't mind at all not needing to talk and receiving my pay :P. So I took a picture of the panel (sorry, not too convenient to post up here), and then said bye to the secretary and left.

I saw quite a couple of the elderly shareholders holding a nice pack of food with a box drink when leaving the building, I think most of them went there for the food afterwards.
I was at least expecting ONE question from the floor, um, a bit disappointing not being able to use my skills at the event. Well, it's quite a good experience still. :D

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

哪個正常人還敢說自己不幸？

2010-04-24T19:30:00.000+08:00

睇完呢個真人真事，真正覺得自己所面對所謂嘅困難、問題、唔好開心事十分微不足道，願人人珍惜所有，善用天賦，愛護父母，家人。

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Hugh Laurie: the British accent vs the American

2010-04-21T21:04:00.001+08:00

I still prefer British (a lot more)!

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

牛栢葉譯 Albert Yip 港酒家歸咎內地生操刀

2010-03-20T23:06:00.007+08:00

I am not trying to discriminate Mainland China's translators, I know there are many good ones there, but it's just hard to control the quality, so many of the ones with cheap prices there are universities students who don't really care about the quality. So I do recommend people to use Hong Kong translators (ME!! :P) to ensure qualities, higher price most of the time does guarantee quality. And the best of it is that you will then be supporting locals!

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(Source: Ming Pao)

Click image to enlarge

牛栢葉譯Albert Yip 菜單失禮人九成亂來港酒家歸咎內地生操刀

(明報) 2010年3月20日星期六 05:10

【明報專訊】謎語一則﹕Albert Yip，猜一種食物——「答案」竟是牛栢葉！網上近日流傳天水圍一間酒家的火鍋餐單，其英文翻譯被評為「笑爆嘴」，成為熱話，被譏為「大陸化翻譯」，如手打魚蛋是「Hand fighting fish balls」。有翻譯專家說﹕「近九成錯！這不是翻譯，是憑空揑造！我們常常笑大陸翻譯差，這次輪到香港蒙羞了！」有關酒家承認錯誤，歸咎請了內地大學生翻譯出事，已付錢找專人改正。

這張令人忍俊不禁的「英文菜牌」來自嘉湖海逸酒店滿庭芳海鮮火鍋酒家。旅遊界立法會議員謝偉俊說﹕「荒謬的菜牌竟然出現在這麼好的酒店餐廳內，真是失禮人！搞笑！會影響香港國際城市的聲譽，旅遊發展局應幫幫有困難的食肆。」

酒樓位於酒店議員指損港譽

該酒家姓胡經理昨晚接受本報訪問時說，早前有一名港人帶外籍朋友來吃火鍋，突然投訴英文菜牌。胡氏說﹕「我英文不好，但也被嚇倒！牛栢葉竟是『Albert Yip』，粉絲是『fans』！」他說因上任不久，平時多接本地客，又主力控制食物水準，沒留意菜牌的翻譯，當時已立刻向客人道歉。

懷疑是上述客人的網友事後在食評網站圖文並茂講述事件，盛讚酒家美食，但笑言當日要逐道菜向外籍友人解釋，沒時間吃飽。他又幽默地推介該店美食「Albert Yip」。

胡經理感嘆說﹕「我翻查紀錄，發現原來以前有人找內地人翻譯，對方應該是大學生。想不到會錯得這麼離譜！唉……」他說，點心菜單大致沒錯，「因為是我在以前任職的食肆抄來的」。他說已花1500元找翻譯公司重新翻譯火鍋菜單，「新的菜單一個星期左右便可用。」

正重新翻譯專家﹕值得稱許

城大專上學院語文學部高級講師謝聰說，初時以為操刀翻譯的內地人用Google網上翻譯鬧出笑話，「但看過全份菜牌，發現更離譜，完全是生安白造！」他說火鍋菜牌58道菜中，只有鮮冬菇、鮮牛肉等數項勉強譯對。「文法錯晒！有些是普通話拼音、英文再加廣東拼音，如黃沙豬潤竟然是Huangsha Pig Run，Run是廣東拼音，但外國人看了就會想﹕什麼豬跑了？至於Albert Yip，根本像是拿某人開玩笑！」謝說，美國肥牛譯成Cephalomappa更是離題萬丈，「我到網上一查，發現那是植物！」

謝說﹕「其實很多香港茶樓點心的特點、頂點、中點，普遍被翻譯成XL、L、M，也是常見錯誤！」謝希望市民不要對搞笑翻譯太苛刻，該店承諾立刻改進也值得稱許，但應該汲取教訓，維護香港的旅遊形象。

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Happy to meet a high court interpreter

2010-03-11T14:29:00.000+08:00

The other night I met a High Court Interpreter at an event that I went to, I was so happy, and he's very capable, he interprets between French, English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Hakka! Wow, if only I could do that too! Ashamed that I didn't have much time to ask more about his work, I hope the next time we meet, we could have more time sharing.

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

So how on earth should we be pronouncing 2010?

2009-12-31T00:52:00.001+08:00

So how on earth should we be pronouncing 2010?

By Sara Nathan

Last updated at 11:56 PM on 27th December 2009

As an issue, you could say it’s been approaching since the start of time.

But with January 1 just round the corner, some of us still haven’t decided how to handle what will be one of the first dilemmas of the new year: How to pronounce 2010.

While some may consider ‘twenty-ten’, others are chewing over ‘two thousand and ten’ and even ‘two-o-one-o’.

The subject reared its head on Radio 2 on Boxing Day on a programme being hosted, rather conveniently, by Doctor Who stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

Tennant, 38, pronounced the year as ‘twenty ten’ when telling a listener to have a 'wonderful new year'.

Miss Tate, 41, then suggested he’d been taking notice of a BBC edict on the matter.

She joked: ‘Oh twenty-ten – get you! Who’s been reading the compliance rules!’

Tennant told their guest, fellow Doctor Who star Bernard Cribbins: ‘We’re supposed to say twenty-ten.’

But Cribbins said he believed most elderly people would prefer to say two thousand and ten.

Miss Tate laughed: ‘You’re not allowed to say two thousand and ten.’ Referring to the the producers, she added: ‘The people in there are exploding!’

The BBC has a unit which decides on uniform pronunciation. However, the BBC insists there has been no ruling on 2010.

A spokesman said: ‘Prior to the show, it was decided “twenty ten” was the easiest way to pronounce the year. It was not breaking any rules to say it in an alternative way.’

-------------------------------------------------------------

BBC﹕應念twenty-ten 「2010年」英文讀法紛紜

(明報)2009年12月30日星期三 05:10

【明報專訊】後天便是2010年，到底「2010年」的英文該怎樣念才對呢？有人認為應念作twenty-ten，但有人則念成two thousand and ten，甚至有人念two-o-one-o。英國廣播公司（BBC）的電台節目，近日亦討論這個問題，他們最後傾向念作「twenty-ten」。

如何念2010年這個令人困擾的問題，日前成了BBC電台節目的話題。這個節目由英國科幻劇集《Doctor Who》演員坦南特（David Tennant）與林泰特（Catherine Tate）主持。

老一輩念two thousand and ten

坦南特在節目中將2010年念成twenty-ten，並祝聽眾新年如意。泰特接著說﹕「twenty-ten……原來如此！看來你很遵守BBC的發音守則。」然後，坦南特向節目嘉賓克里賓斯（Bernard Cribbins）說：「我們認為應念twenty-ten。」

不過，克里賓斯認為，老一輩的人大多傾向念成two thousand and ten。泰特說：「你不能念成two thousand and ten……BBC發音部門的人會氣炸的。」

BBC設部門決定統一念法
BBC設有一個部門，決定各節目應採用的統一發音。BBC表示，該部門尚未決定2010年的念法。BBC發言人說：「節目錄製之前，大家一致認為twenty-ten是最容易發音的念法，但用其他方式來念也不算違規。」
中央社/每日電訊報

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T22:58:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas 2009!

I thought I could take a break this Christmas, but I guess not, my friend offered me a translation job, it's not too hard, so I took it. I guess I just can't say NO to money. Haha!

Don't worry, I still manage to get some fun while getting the job done.

Here, for all of you, the gingerbread man I made. :)

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

I hate Tong Tong!

2009-12-11T10:17:00.006+08:00

Well done guys! I hate Tong Tong!

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

新華社向「歐巴馬」說不

2009-12-01T17:31:00.000+08:00

I agree with Xinhua News Agency.

======================

新華社向「歐巴馬」說不

　　(星島日報報道)是奧巴馬，還是歐巴馬？這是個問題。美國駐華大使館希望為他們的總統「正名」為歐巴馬，但中國堅持「說不」。新華社譯名室負責人說，除非美方透過外交途徑「強烈要求」，否則「奧巴馬」就這樣叫定了。

　　正如美國前總統布什又譯「布殊」，兩岸三地格局下，美國新任總統再度在海峽兩岸鬧「奧巴馬」和「歐巴馬」的雙胞。有道是「名不正，則言不順」，因此在奧巴馬訪華之前，美國駐華大使館在多個場合為給總統正名「造勢」，藉派發中文紀念海報，正式用台灣譯法「巴拉克．歐巴馬」為美方認可的統一中文譯名。為此美國駐華使館新聞發言人史雯珊還強調，美國政府正在規範總統中文譯名，今後將統一使用「歐巴馬」。

但中國的官方通訊社新華社很快做出回應，指「奧巴馬」才是正宗，這個譯法從二○○四年十一月三日奧巴馬嶄露頭角開始，一直沿用至今，而且「奧巴馬」不是美國總統「專利」，這個姓氏在非洲一些國家的部落很普遍。

2009-11-21

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

少數族裔中心傳譯需求高請人難

2009-11-22T13:21:00.002+08:00

I wish I could speak their language :P
===============================================================

少數族裔中心傳譯需求高請人難

(明報)2009年11月22日星期日 05:10

【明報專訊】本港4間少數族裔支援中心已全數投入服務，其中只得基督教服務處融匯少數族裔人士支援服務中心提供傳譯服務，中心試行兩個多月已為200多人次傳譯，主要涉及政府部門如社會福利署及房屋署的查詢。不過，由於中心對傳譯員的要求甚高，故21個空缺只聘了18人。

試行兩月仍缺3人

中心由9月初至11月中共有568人次使用，除了中文及英文班等服務較受歡迎，一半人次使用傳譯服務，以電話傳譯為主，主要與公共服務有關。中心主任陳玉碧表示，他們8月尾開始與10個政府部門合作試行，透過3人會議提供電話傳譯服務或上門傳譯，其中以社署、房屋署及勞工處的查詢最多，上月31日起正式投入服務，對象包括全港少數族裔、政府及非政府機構。

該中心共提供7種語言翻譯，以旁遮普語及烏爾都語最多人使用，求助者主要是巴基斯坦及印度裔，10月傳譯服務使用人次亦較9月上升約四成。陳表示，辦公時間為朝八晚十，但10時後亦會有人候命。

少數族裔服務總協調主任陳頌皓表示，他們對傳譯人員的要求甚高，現時九成傳譯員有大學學位，中心更找來少數族裔團體任考試官，要求傳譯員通過口試及筆試。傳譯員亦要接受道德訓練，例如保密和如實及準確傳譯，中心預計每年可提供2000多次電話傳譯。她指現時中心服務使用者只有兩成是男性，會更積極舉辦歷奇活動等來吸引他們。

政制及內地事務局稱，至今共有約3000名少數族裔人士使用4間中心的服務，會留意傳譯需求，評估資源需要。

明報記者賴月玲

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Thinking of my french

2009-10-18T00:44:00.000+08:00

I have taken up french classes again recently, and it re-ignites my crave for France, French lifestyle, culture...etc. Basically anything related to France, I would be interested it, this explains the reason for the birth of my new blog: Paris Mania - http://parismania.blogspot.com. I post almost every other day (yup, more frequent than this blog, sorry guys). This blog is about how I try to enjoy a french (or European) way of living in Hong Kong, very hard I know, and some people may think I am living in fantasy land, I don't care, this is the way of life I like and adore. So keep an eye on it if you want to know how I achieve it. :)

As for this blog, of course I won't abandon it. I will keep writing. In fact, if you have been following my blog, earlier this month, I wrote about my disappointing translating experience for a company. I am happy to annouce that they came back to me for a second job! :D I have already completed it, seems like they are more satisfied with the work this time. And it made me happy/ier. I hope more jobs will continue to come.

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

I am still here!!

2009-10-07T14:14:00.000+08:00

It's not that I dumped this blog, it's just I am too....you know...lazy... :P

I know i have let you guys disppointed (and I doubt if I have posted frequent enough to have loyal readers), anyway, I will try posting more about my experience. In fact, I have done another mini project for one whole week in August, that was quite a week.

And I have also completed a translation job for a new client, that time was quite disastrous, I haven't really done a press release translation before, and it was quite a fast turnaround. Anyway, it was ok at the end of course with the revision. So, the lesson learnt: don't rush and leave it aside when done the 1st round and come back to it, revise again, before giving back to clients. : )

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Google Dict - UK and US pronunciation

2009-08-07T15:35:00.005+08:00

I am excited to see Google Dict. has added UK and US pronunciation to it, and also an improved layout, i.e. Chinese and English explanation together.

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Finally, i can relax

2009-07-24T10:46:00.007+08:00

ell, what a week! Too much to do, sleeping hours were enough i think, but it's the thought of knowing there are still work that made me tired. You know, always thinking how much more to finish, it felt like never ending during the course of it. But it is done! Yeah!

Right, it was translation, again. (where's my favourite interpretation job?!) The hours are quite long, and the first night I was working when Typhoon No.9 was on! So scary! Watch the video here, you will know what I mean!It wasn't fun working during Typhoon at all! So scary with the wind blowing although I was at home, I could still feel the power of it.

A few essentials when doing translation through the internet: MSN, mobile phone, Computer (of course), email.

For this weekend, I could sleep as much as I want, and do whatever I want to do without having to rush back to the computer for work. YEAH!

P.S. I think I should reward myself for the hard work. What should I get...?! Um...Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Google: email translation

2009-05-21T17:38:00.003+08:00

Have you tried it? I haven't. But it sounds like a really great idea!

To enable this function: Click top right hand side Settings-->Labs-->Message Translation -->Enable (but actually I still don't see it anywhere on my email msg after enbling though...)

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Google makes the world smaller with email translation
By Jack Riley Wednesday, 20 May 2009

The internet search giant Google today announced their intention to combine two of their most used products in an attempt to do their bit to bring the world together. 'Message Translation' combines the popular Google Translate service, which can convert text and web pages from and to any of 41 languages, with Gmail, the company's webmail service which boasts more than 113 million users worldwide.

Allowing users to conduct conversations with each exchange translated into the relevant language is hoped to enable international communication for Gmail users, and is just one of the many weird and wonderful Gmail plugins available to try out through the experimental "Gmail labs" service. Google has already launched services including the option to dissuade drunk emailing by making users answer a maths puzzle before they can send an email, and another to hold messages for a short period before sending so that users can change their mind should they have sent something they may later regret, as well as a variety of others designed to make the service customisable.

Enabling global conversations of this kind has been on the agenda of the search giant over the last few months, after the company also made available a translation function for comments on blogs for users logged into Google Friend Connect. The 'Message Translate' service has been made available worldwide for all Gmail users.
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Gmail 增翻譯功能一按完成

Google 周二開始在旗下的免費電郵服務 Gmail 加入自動翻譯功能，讓用戶只要按一按滑鼠鍵，就可將電郵訊息翻譯成另一種語言，目前可供翻譯的語言達數十種之多。

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

Twist and turns in life

2009-05-17T23:51:00.002+08:00

C'est la vie! I know it's such a cliche to say it, but these 2 weeks really made me think life is never ever a predictable one.

The US company job, remember I said they have chosen another translator instead of me? I thought that was the end of it, but it wasn't! It wasn't at all...

The week following the turn down, the agent contacted me and said there might be a chance for me to go with the other translator to the workshop held in US, so I said "ok, let me know if you have more details". I think it's always good to have a face-to-face contact with the people in the company, because I am confident that they would have a good impression of me and my job performance. And then I waited for a week, and I received another message from the agent...

She told me "I am sorry, it turned out that the company just needed one translator now." And then I said "ok". Honestly, I wasn't really disappointed about it, because of swine flu. So that should be the end of it, right? The answer was NO! Haha!

The next day, I received a call from the agent (it's always just email or MSN), she told me that the translator couldn't make it because her passport expired (?! right...but whatever). And so she was calling to ask me if I could go instead, it's 2 weeks later, yes, to fly to the States.

Am I excited? Not yet, I think not until everything is more settled and concrete.

But the whole thing is such a turn, right? I think when you treat something with an ordinary mind, then life will always take you by surprise. :)

Email HK Interpreter - Louise

HK Interpreter - Louise - Hong Kong Interpreter

傳譯漏一字 謀殺犯重審 上訴庭斥浪費公帑

傳譯漏一字 謀殺犯重審 上訴庭斥浪費公帑

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I am still here!!

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